1945 and 1946 K&F Lap Steel Guitars - Seattle, WA
N 47° 37.298 W 122° 20.913
10T E 548949 N 5274453
Located within the Museum of Pop Culture is a gallery containing rare guitars belonging to some of the best musicians in the U.S. Admission fees apply.
Waymark Code: WMWGQH
Location: Washington, United States
Date Posted: 09/03/2017
Views: 1
Over 50 guitars are located in the Guitar Gallery: The Quest for Volume within the Museum of Pop Culture. Two of them are 1945 and 1946 K&F lap steel guitars. A nearby placard reads:
These wartime guitars show their inventors' ingenuity
Around 1943, Los Angeles-area radio repair shop owner Leo Fender and guitarist Doc Kauffman began to collaborate. They founded K&F,
hoping to market lap steel guitars and amps. But during World War II,
materials were scarce. For their first few guitars, they scrounged around junkyards, finding used magnets in car-motor flywheels.
A Ford logo inside the 1945 guitar proves it's one of the first half-dozen guitars Leo Fender ever made.